Critic Reviews

MobyRanks are listed below. You can read here for more information about MobyRank.

82

Gamezilla

This game is HUGE! Anyone who buys it, plays the whole thing through (I haven’t yet) and beats the end battle is a person with drive. The only thing preventing me from scoring this graphics masterpiece in the 90’s was the somewhat weak storyline and the tedium that got me down on more then one occasion. Again, 100 hours is a long time to play a game -- you should be getting more than simply more powerful monsters once you reach the 50-hour mark. A must buy for the serious RPG player; a casual player won’t finish it.

Once you get the hang of traversing around the problems, you're left with a moderately involving role-playing game of gargantuan proportions. It's not the kind of game that will keep you up late at night or steal away weeks of your life. It's more like the kind of game you'll play for an hour or so every day.

The battles are turn-based, and a lot of the new rules made it in. However, the inventory system reeks of Diablo (which is a system I would like to pee on), the pace of the game is painfully slow at times, and the targeting system is quirky at best. Add to this a lackluster character-generation system and you’ve got a game that casual fans will dig, but the faithful will abhor.

So while it is frustrating that the bugs were there in the first place (especially so when that bug causes you to lose better than 10 hours of game time), at least the game manufacturers are releasing patches to help things along. Pool of Radiance is a fun game, I have to admit that much. I enjoyed it a lot, but I often found myself bored and frustrated with it, and this really isn't what I pay my gaming dollars out to accomplish. Still, if you are a hard core Dungeons & Dragons fan, give this one a go. It's not Baldur's Gate II, but it is fun in its own right.

Pool of Radiance is one of those games that promised considerably more than they delivered. It's not that the game isn't packed with stuff--it is--but that the flawed implementation takes away a lot of the fun that could have been had with the content. Even with all of the flaws that I mentioned in the game, I find it difficult to consider the game a failure. It has major problems, yes, but there's still a solid nugget of gaming buried deeply inside of it. The real question is whether you, as a gamer, have the werewithal to take the time and uncover that nugget. Those with lots of time to kill and a deep fondness for old-school gaming will probably be pleased as punch with this game, flaws aside. But most people, with limited times and budgets, should pass on Pool of Radiance. The radiance has definitely dimmed from this one.

Pool of Radiance isn't a great game, but it isn't that bad either. If you really like dungeon crawling more than story then you may get a kick out of this game. If you like the Diablo II click-fest type of dungeon crawling, then PoR's turn-based combat will probably turn you off. If you're looking for the next Baldur's Gate, look elsewhere. PoR is the opposite of the heavily story-driven RPGs from Bioware, taking a turn-based hack and slash approach instead.

The main problems that flawed Pool of Radiance are its countless bugs. I only had the chance to experience several of them; apart from the setup program which refuses to install the game to any drive other than c:, I had a lot of trouble with virtual memory under Windows 2000/XP. It seems that the game devours immense quantities of virtual memory, which can eventually make the game or even the whole machine freeze. There are many other bugs (especially in the gameplay), and as Ubi Soft obviously realized what this can do to their finances, they started publishing patches on a daily bases... Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor could simply be defined as disk full of bugs, striving to be a slow Diablo based on AD&D third edition rules.

Any way you look at it, the game that was supposed to relive the glory of the original Pool of Radiance just is not fun. The biggest selling point, The 3rd Edition Rules, was butchered beyond belief, and many of the things that survived the slaughter were still done poorly nonetheless. It would have been nice to see Pool of Radiance return as the best game that ever graced a PC gamer's life, but unfortunately, such grandeur can only exist in the memories of those who played the first Pool of Radiance.

So, in the end, how good is this game? Never in recent years have I seen such a diversity of opinions over one game as I have seen in this one. If you are expecting a Diablo clone, or another Baldur’s Gate, you will be disappointed. Action-only fans need not apply. If you are looking for a turn-based fantasy game that you can enjoy for over a hundred hours, this is the best one out there. Personally, I think this game is a huge step back in the right direction, and with a little more polish could have been one of the best RPGs of our time.

Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor is a good game concept gone bad due to a number of questionable design decisions and bugs that got past the QA department over at Ubi Soft. A patch or two (or more) could redeem this game.

Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor (PoR2) is a Dungeons & Dragons fantasy RPG based on the popular 3rd Edition of the Dungeons and Dragons rules. I bet most of RPG fans expected a Baldur's Gate with 3e rules, a deep, rewarding role-playing experience with customizable characters, non-linearity and questing galore. Unfortunately Pool of Radiance 2 is nothing of that.The game looked like it might've been fun, but there is almost no role playing, it's all about hack and slash. When everything is about combat, combat should be perfectly implemented right? But it isn't :( The combat interface is stupid at some times, ruining your planning more often than leading to success. For example, it is completely impossible to disengage from a fight - you just can't run or hide. This isn't what I call role-playing, is it? :)

Back in 1988 SSI released Pool of Radiance. It was the first computer game to get a handle on bringing the D&D pen and paper rules from the tabletop to the desktop and was successful enough to generate a host of sequels (known as the Gold Box series) and a bevy of imitators. And while this latest offering is a little bit of fun, it's hardly a worthy continuation of the series. Poor design decisions and some harsh technical instabilities obscure whatever beauty may lie beneath the experience.

Pool of Radiance is a familiar title for some of us. Some may remember it as one of the best CRPG’s ever created. Others may distinguish it as the game that brought Dungeons and Dragons into the computer gaming scene. However you remember it, Pool of Radiance 2 does not live up to the original. Sure it has better graphics and sounds, but when it comes down to content, role playing and technology vs time period, the original was a much greater achievement. PoR2 won’t blow you away as the original probably did when you first played it.

PoR: Ruins of Myth Drannor is an attempt to carry on in the enthusiastic adventuring spirit of games like the Baldur’s Gate series. Unfortunately by offering little to no role-playing experience and by being based on an outmoded and poorly accessed combat system PoR is anything but radiant.

Not since the infamous debut of Daikatana has the release of a single game generated so much incensed indignation from early buyers. Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor had the potential to be one of the greatest “dungeon-hack” epics of recent memory, but it’s looking like it might go down in the anals (sic) of RPG history as one of the greatest disappointments.

Far from being the next-in-line to carry the D&D computer game legacy to new heights, PoR was close to being a disaster, given the bugs and - to a lesser extent - the missing features. For the players expecting an in-depth roleplaying experience at least on the level of the lesser gold box games, PoR is sadly lacking. Those who enjoy basic dungeon hacking and tactical combat, or who want to ogle the fantastic animations, may glean some fun from the experience. Otherwise, though it may mark the beginning of 3rd edition D&D for the computer, PoR is a step backward - off the pier - for D&D computer roleplaying.

Overall, Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor is a game you should definitely avoid -- especially these days when there are so many good RPG�s on the market. The game just has so many problems that I don�t think future patches will help it any (or at least enough), but hopefully Stormfront Studios can learn from their experiences here and make a better game in the future.

In fact this game improves with age. For instance, it gets more interesting and varied when you leave the first set of dungeons. This is when the story kicks in more prominently, and you meet a few extra characters who have information and quests for you. It becomes immediately more involving. Also there's a lot of diligent exploring to take care of, and the graphics are pretty good, if a bit repetitive in the dingy dungeons. Though I must say that these dark areas make the spell effects look quite spectacular. My Sorcerer well and truly earned her keep letting go with fireballs and sending streaks of lighting into the fray. Area spells work wonders in this game both visually and practically, and the game engine lets you take careful aim so you (or your friends) don't get hurt.

This highly anticipated follow-up to the classic Gold Box game from 1988 has to be one of the most disappointing releases in the history of computer gaming. The terrible character creation process, and pedestrian dungeon design are surpassed in incompetence only by the nonexistent story, frustrating interface, and game-destroying, buggy code. Consider yourself fortunate if various hardware conflicts keep you from installing this dog—some lucky souls have had their operating systems decimated simply by trying to uninstall PoR.